Entain

Entain plc, formerly GVC Holdings, is an international sports betting and gambling company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It owns brands such as bwin, Coral, Ladbrokes, PartyPoker and Sportingbet.

History
The company was incorporated in Luxembourg in 2004 as Gaming VC Holdings. It was founded by a group of four American businesspersons, led by Steve Barlow, as a vehicle to acquire Casino-Club, an online casino established in 2001 that was reportedly the largest online gambling operator in German-speaking countries. The company made its initial public offering on the AIM exchange on 21 December 2004, raising funds that were used to complete the €105-million acquisition of Casino-Club on the same day.

In 2010, Gaming VC was reorganised in the Isle of Man as GVC Holdings.

In 2012, GVC and William Hill bought Sportingbet, with William Hill taking the Australian and Spanish markets, and GVC taking the rest of the world.

GVC acquired Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment in 2016 for £1.1 billion after a bidding battle with rival gambling group 888 Holdings, leading to a marked recovery in GVC's financial situation. After the acquisition, Bwin.Party returned to growth after many years of falling sales.

In December 2017, GVC agreed to buy Ladbrokes Coral in a deal which could be worth up to £4 billion. The acquisition was completed in March 2018.

In mid-2018 a shareholder rebellion forced out GVC director, Peter Isola, after reports showed that two executives at the company earned a disproportionate £67 million in salary.

In July 2018, GVC agreed to a $200-million deal with MGM Resorts International to capitalise on the newly liberalised US sports betting market.

In 2019, GVC chairman Lee Feldman left the company. While Feldman was overdue to leave under UK corporate governance code that recommends chairs of listed companies not stay in position longer than nine years, the news came two weeks after Feldman sold £6m worth of his GVC shares and CEO Kenny Alexander sold shares worth £13.7m, which led to GVC's share price falling nearly 14% in a single day. Barry Gibson took over as Chairman upon Feldman's departure.

In July 2020, Shay Segev, GVC's chief operating officer (COO), succeeded Alexander as CEO following his "surprise departure" after 13 years in charge. The same month, the UK tax authority HM Revenue and Customs announced that it was widening the scope of its investigation into “potential corporate offending” related to GVC's former Turkish-facing online gambling business, which it had sold in December 2017. GVC dismissed public reports that the HMRC probe was related to insolvent payment processor Wirecard, saying there was “no evidence of any link between the HMRC investigation and the payment service providers mentioned in the newspaper report.”

In December 2020, GVC Holdings changed its name to Entain plc. The rebranding was said to reflect a "new era of sustainability and conduct", which also included a commitment to operate only in regulated markets by 2023.

In 2021, Entain's joint venture partner MGM Resorts made an offer to buy Entain, valuing the business at $11 billion. The board and Segev rejected the offer saying, that it "significantly undervalues the company and its prospects". MGM Resorts subsequently withdrew the offer.

In January 2021, Segev stepped down as Entain CEO and was succeeded by Jette Nygaard-Andersen, who became the first woman to lead a UK-listed gambling company.

In August 2021, Entain acquired US-based esports betting company Unikrn for £50 million.

In November 2021, it was reported that Entain had sold the Betdaq business, which had been acquired by Ladbrokes eight years earlier, back to its original founder Dermot Desmond. The sale price was reportedly substantially less than £25 million the company was originally acquired for. Also in November 2021, Entain sold its InterTrader business to Raven Ventures International.

In February 2022, Entain acquired the Canadian sports betting operator Sports Interaction from Avid Gaming for £175 million.

In November 2022, Entain acquired the Croatian sports betting company, SuperSport.

In January 2023, Entain acquired the Dutch online gambling company, BetCity, from Sports Entertainment Media for £398 million.

In March 2023, Entain acquired the New Zealand based esports betting developer Sportsflare for CA$13.2m.

In December 2023, Nygaard-Andersen stepped down as Entain CEO and was succeeded on an interim basis by Stella David, a non-executive director of Entain. Nygaard-Andersen had been criticised by shareholders in relation to the company's poor business performance.

On 29 February 2024, Entain, announced its decision to withdraw from Responsible Wagering Australia, coinciding with the Australian government's preparations to implement stricter betting advertisement restrictions.

In April 2024, Entain announced that its interim CEO, Stella David, would succeed Barry Gibson as chairman, following Gibson's retirement in September.

Operations
Entain is headquartered in the Isle of Man and has licences in more than 18 countries. The Group employs over 2,800 employees and contractors in locations across Europe, Oceania, Asia, North and South America.

Entain-owned brands
Entain operates consumer-facing brands in the online gambling industry, including:

Betboo
Betboo was established in 2005 and provides online bingo, sportsbook, casino and poker to South American customers. It was acquired by the GVC Group in July 2009.

BetMGM
In July 2018, GVC announced a 50/50 joint venture with US Hotel and Casino operator MGM Resorts International to create a sports betting and online gaming platform targeting the U.S. market in states where such activities are legal.

bwin
bwin is Entain's main sports betting brand in continental Europe. Its core markets include Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Belgium. As well as sports bets, bwin has a variety of table and slot casino games as well as online poker where licensed to do so. The bwin brand has been associated with sponsorship of a number of football teams including Real Madrid, A.C. Milan, Bayern Munich, Manchester Utd and Juventus. The brand currently sponsors four Spanish La Liga clubs: Valencia CF, Villarreal CF, Sevilla FC and Atlético Madrid.

In February 2018, GVC Holdings was fined £350,000 by the UK Gambling Commission for repeated failings from ElectraWorks Limited. The company was punished for infringements relating to the advertising of free bets and bonus offers.

Gamebookers
Gamebookers is a full-service sportsbook that was initially acquired by PartyGaming in 2006. GVC then acquired the brand in February 2016 as part of the acquisition of bwin.party.

Ladbrokes & Coral
As of 29 March 2018, GVC Holdings took over the Ladbrokes Coral Group. This included their UK bookmaker estate, a new business for GVC bringing the two customer brands Ladbrokes and Coral into the corporate portfolio.

Neds
Neds was established in 2017 and serves the Australian sports betting market. It was acquired by GVC in 2018 for $A95 million.

Sportingbet
Sportingbet was established in 1998 and was acquired by GVC in March 2013. It provides online and mobile sports betting, casinos, games and poker. In October 2012, Sportingbet announced that it had agreed to preliminary terms for a £530 million takeover bid from both GVC and William Hill. Under these terms, Sportingbet's Australian and Spanish operations were bought by William Hill.

partypoker
partypoker was founded in 2001 and in the early 2000s was the world's largest online poker site. The company's US-driven revenues were hit by the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in the United States. The company merged with Austrian sport's betting company bwin in 2011, and was acquired by GVC in 2015. In 2016 partypoker launched a windows mobile app and saw significant growth after bwin.party was acquired by GVC in the same year. In 2018, the partypoker brand was placed under the control of GVC's BetMGM joint venture.

partycasino
Following the 2011 merger of PartyGaming PLC and bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, partycasino became one of GVC's leading casino brands.

CasinoClub
CasinoClub was originally launched in 2001 and acquired by GVC in 2004, it largely operates in German-speaking markets and has more than 15,000 active customers.

Gioco Digitale
Gioco Digitale was the first fully regulated gambling site on the Italian market launched in 2008. It has positioned itself as a gambling portal for casual users, with a focus on bingo and casino products. The company was originally acquired by bwin Interactive Entertainment AG in 2009.

Cashcade
Cashcade Ltd is a UK-based online gambling marketing company that is now a wholly owned subsidiary of GVC Holdings. Cashcade was originally acquired by PartyGaming PLC in July 2009. The company became part of the GVC group when it was purchased as part of the acquisition of bwin.party digital entertainment in February 2017. Cashcade owns FoxyGames.com, FoxyBingo.com and CheekyBingo.com.

Foxy Bingo
This online bingo site was first launched in 2005 and the brand is owned by Cashcade. During its advertising history it has had many campaigns featuring Foxy - a human-sized fox mascot. He wears a smart suit and has a northern accent. Throughout its brand history, there have been several celebrity tie-ups including with Katie Price and Joey Essex.

Foxy Games
Foxy Games was established in April 2015 as Foxy Casino and is the slots-led counterpart of its sister brand Foxy Bingo.